Orioles will use 6-man rotation; Rivera replaces Machin

BALTIMORE—For the rest of the season, the Orioles will use a six-man rotation. Tyler Wells, who is making his final rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday night, should be inserted into the rotation on Monday when the rosters expand from 26 to 28.

“That’s four or five days away. If everybody can stay healthy, that would be great,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.

Wells will join Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich, Trevor Rogers and Tomoyuki Sugano in the rotation.

“It’s good. It gives Dean an extra day. It gives Tomo an extra day,” Mansolino said. “Nobody will pitch on regular rest the rest of the year.”

Dietrich Enns will serve as the opener on Wednesday night and Roansy Contreras will be the bulk pitcher. Contreras’ contract was purchased from Triple-A Norfolk.

Swapping out infielders

The Orioles  purchased the contract of infielder Emmanuel Rivera from Norfolk, and designated Vimael Machin for assignment.

“I think the big thing right now is having more stability in the infield in some ways,” Mansolino said. “We are really proud of Machin. He’s a guy that hadn’t been in the big leagues for a couple of years, went to Mexico and really fought for his career and performed at a high level.”

Machin hit a home run in his first at-bat and then was hitless in his next 11. Rivera hit .229 with three RBIs in 26 games with the Orioles earlier this season.

Third baseman Jordan Westburg remains on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle.

“Just going back to this last week at home, not having Westburg in the infield, we’ve had some missed plays at third base, unfortunately,” Mansolino said. That included a poor play by Machin on Tuesday night when he took his time touching third on a force play and then threw late to first on what should have been an easy double play.

“Emmanuel Rivera is a guy that’s excelled defensively in the big leagues at third base … Get three guys in the infield that are stable right now, and I think it will help out the pitching staff and the rest of the defense,” Mansolino said.

Right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo was optioned to Norfolk after Tuesday night’s game, and right-hander Brandon Young’s season was officially ended when he was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Young suffered a left hamstring strain last Thursday night.

“He kind of found out how his stuff plays in the big leagues,” Mansolino said. “He found out locating the fastball is a really big deal. He found out that having weapons to right-handed and left-handed hitters is a really big deal.”

Young was 1-7 with a 6.24 ERA in 12 starts. His highlight was throwing 7 2/3 perfect innings against Houston on August 15th. He also threw an immaculate inning, striking out three New York Mets on nine pitches on July 8^th.

“When you’re down at Triple-A, you have no idea how your stuff is going to play here.,” Mansolino said. “You’ve got to get here and figure it out. He had some really nice starts … He’s going to be able to say, ‘In these two starts, I did this and had success. In my other ones that weren’t as successful, this is why.’”

Another 26-man move will be necessary on Thursday when reliever Shawn Dubin is activated.

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